Butternut Squash, Spinach and Chickpea Curry with Chapati

Home made chapati

I've been reading The Fertility Diet by Sarah Dobson and although my usual eating style is very close to her suggestions I want to further increase our intake of healthy whole foods and cut down on Mr Duncan's consumption of meat.

This week we got a butternut squash and some spinach.  Now I love making pumpkin soup with any orange coloured squash and steamed spinach is one of my favourite side dishes but we have loads of spices to use up before we leave for Australia so I decided it was time for a curry.



Fertility focus
Turmeric is good for stabilising blood sugar levels which helps with managing weight and hormone balance.
Home made Chicken Stock is recommended in The Baby Making Bible by Emma Cannon for nurturing fertility
Chickpeas like all legumes are a good plant source of protein.
Butternut Squash is rich in Vitamin A and also contains zinc and selenium
Spinach, like all leafy greens, is rich in iron, folic acid and vitamin K
 
Ingredients

• Coconut Oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Tumeric
• Garam Masala
• Butternut squash
• Chicken stock
• Chickpeas
• Coconut milk
• Spinach 

I made this for two (though it turned out to be three servings) with half a butternut squash, half a tin of chickpeas and about 100mls coconut milk.

Method
Heat a teaspoon of coconut oil in a wok and sweat roughly chopped onion until softened.  Mix in finely chopped garlic and ginger then add turmeric and garam masala.

While the onion is sweating, peel and chop the butternut squash into bite sized chunks.  Add the chopped butternut to the wok and fry off a little until all covered by spices and onion.  Pour in enough chicken stock to just cover the squash.  Put on a lid and let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the butternut is nearly done.

Add coconut cream and chickpeas and simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens enough to cling to the back of your wooden spoon.  Stir in chopped spinach until it wilts.

I served this with home made chapatis based on a very cut down version of this recipe - basically half a cup of flour, a dash of olive oil and water, rolled very thinly and dry fried for about 45 seconds on each side.

L.
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